


Becoming: Part 5 - a few taster post-Endgame scenes

by Daringdoublebassist



Series: Becoming [2]
Category: Avengers (Comics), Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Realities, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Female Friendship, Female Protagonist, Fix-It, Gen, Girl Power, Girl Saves Boy, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Strong Female Characters, Time Travel, WTF Marvel?!, don't spoil the endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-10 11:55:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18659929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daringdoublebassist/pseuds/Daringdoublebassist
Summary: I've just seen Avengers: Endgame.I am so angry with Marvel.The scene starts in chapter 2 but first, let me say a few things...





	1. An Endgame review

**Author's Note:**

> Female characters in the MCU are seriously underrated!

I have just seen Avengers: Endgame.

I am so angry with Marvel.

I'm mourning the first female superhero I liked and trusted to represent me (as a timid, anxious, first year uni student/secret karate champion!). In the early years, it seemed Black Widow was the only woman deemed worthy enough to feature alongside the 'Original Six'. Scarlett Johansson's performance, appreciation for, and interpretation of the character has been exceptional. Now, Natasha has been taken away from us in confusing and devastating circumstances. And we didn't even see a funeral.

As said by many people, prior even to AoU, the MCU has done Black Widow’s story arc a huge disservice.

I'm hoping this film will not mark the end for Natasha - it would be too big a waste. Spiderman: FFH is set to mark the end of Phase 3, yet we know of a Black Widow film due for release as Phase Four commences. I feel as though too many plot holes surfaced in Endgame for it to certainly be solely an origin film. Those references to Steve's time-travelling and altered past; Quill's search listings marking Gamora as 'missing'; Wanda and Clint's nod to 'both of them' knowing of the win - could these scenes hint at a chance Natasha (and Gamora) will survive into Phase Four?

Natasha Romanov was the first kick-ass female character we met (Iron Man 2: release date 2010). She one to pull together that group of wild, tormented, lonesome men in The Avengers; more than a superficial love interest - protecting Stark, recruiting Banner, rescuing Barton, befriending Rogers, helping Thor. However, she subsequently played second fiddle to Cap and Iron Man.

Black Widow should have been the one to lead the Endgame Avengers, not least because of the trust and respect she had gained in holding the fort and keeping the wider super-community together for five years. ["My channel is always open."]

Avengers: Endgame barely scrapes a pass on the Bechdel test (those Romanov and Okoye, and Gamora and Nebula scenes just push it through). And while there is one Girl Power group moment in the final fight (wherein Valkyrie, Wanda, Okoye, Pepper, Captain Marvel, Shuri, and Mantis stand together against Thanos' armies), this only further impresses the lack of female presence in the other films/phases. [Add to this that Marvel's first film fronted by a female was released in 2019 - Captain Marvel]. The MCU is similarly unimpressive in its diversity quota. I could go on…

In the comics (Annihilation: Earthfall), there is a world inside the soul stone: the Soul World. Various people enter and leave it...

And shouldn't it count for something that Romanov sacrifices HERSELF for Barton to possess the soul stone?

If you fancy discussing this further, my inbox will always be open.


	2. A Soul for a Soul

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Official work title - Nat: Becoming the Cosmic Revenger

Clank.

Clank.

Clank.

Clank.

“Oh. You’re awake.”

Darkness. Buzzing. Metal on metal. 

Gravity.

Gravel.

“Well, are you going to just lie there?”

Pain. Fuzziness. Heaviness.

Fingers tips tingling; curling. 

Toes wiggling. 

Ankles – connected to knees. Hips. 

Wrists – connected to elbows. Shoulders.

Spinal mobility. Hip roll. Sternum popping. 

Neck flex- AAAAAAAAARRCGH!

“Yeah, that’s going to be painful for a while…” 

Feminine intonation. 

Lighter darkness. Greyness. Some focus.

“… But at least that’s the last of it.”

Clarity to hearing. 

Sand digging under fingernails. Fingernails digging into sand. And hands pushing down. And down.

Rising. 

Silvery dusk. A shape. Dark spots evening out. Eyelids lowering and closing. One blink; two.

Silver giving way to colours: brown, red, green. 

Green?

“I know your face.” Trachea closing sharply. Words stalling behind lips. Whispers.

“I have never before seen yours.”

“Y- You were lost.” Consonants tripping, stumbling along dry taste buds. 

“And now, so are you.”

“W-“ Choking. A cough. “Water?”

“This is – something similar.”

Skin to lips. A hand. Cupped. Liquid pressing into her face.

“Open your mouth. It isn’t poison.”

There is no taste. No temperature. No sensation of it passing through the body. 

Yet it is refreshing.

Sightlines clear. 

“Gamora.”

The woman stares, eyes narrowing.

“Your name?”

“Nat.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Am I- are you- alive?”

Natasha pushed sweaty hair from her forehead, nails tangling in matted locks and dried dirt. The pain had subsided somewhat, but the crass ache was real enough – shouldn’t that mean she was real, that she had survived?

“You tell me.” Gamora replied, continuing to whittle away at her log. It was beginning to take shape, showing a smooth, elongated surface area. Was it intended to be a weapon? “Your friend retrieved the stone. How do you feel?”

“I feel… I feel alive?” She said, more decidedly than she felt. In truth, Natasha felt empty. Her insides were cold. She was missing something. Her soul? That didn’t make sense. She wouldn’t be breathing without a soul – and she could definitely still take in air, still inflate her lungs. And her heart beat with familiar warm strength inside her chest. 

“I- I have a heartbeat.”

“Hmm,” Her companion gazed up, searchingly. “Yes, you do.”

A shiver sprinted across Natasha’s knees. She unconsciously pulled them to her chest, and hugged herself. The expression with which Gamora watched her was curious, almost morbidly so. Something felt off; that level of fascination was not normal.

“Do you?”

“The Zen-Whoberian do not have ‘hearts’ like you Terrans. But…” She paused, one hand pulling from the wood to press at the centre of her chest. “No. I have no chest noises.”

Natasha blinked. 

‘Chest noises.’

Maria would appreciate that one.

Maria…

**Author's Note:**

> I intend this as a thank you to those readers who have supported my story, and everyone who reads and engages with my other fics.
> 
> Please know that I will not be following the MCU canon timeline.


End file.
